It has been a while since I wrote a blog post and figured I better get one done, so here we go.

I have been losing weight, I think you can gather that from some past posts, it has been a struggle but around the end of April I went for a physical after finding a new Dr. my last one did a vanishing act. So during this full physical I found out I had pretty high blood pressure, lowered kidney function and had a negative bowel test, all this caused be a great deal of stress and with my wife Jenn away for work for so much of the time I had very little appetite, so I pretty much lost 20lbs in a month, not the best way to lose weight.

After some extra tests including a colonoscopy my Doctor, who I trust, reassured me that my blood pressure was getting better under the medication, my kidney function was fine and could be that way for ever and although the found polyps in my bowel they where benign and just to have a colonoscopy every 3 years.

So I have managed to keep weight off, for the most part, I am still not totally happy with my stable weight as I still bounce up to 207 and I would prefer to be between 197 and 203 for the next while before aiming for my next goal of 195.

So as mentioned in an earlier post Jenn and I joined a gym and having been attending a few times a week and I have also taken up running, my awesome coach being Jenn. I have always been a fan of Fitbit and had bought a Charge HR around Christmas, but with getting on the running gig I opted to get a Surge around Easter but have never really been happy with it. Often it does not sync when I have done a run without powering it off and on, it is not accurate on GPS at times, the heart rate is all over the map, but I think as I have been doing more and more running it does not have features I would have expected to be there by now, it was released in the last quarter of last year, such as intervals, Jenn was shocked by that.

So being a kinda of all in guy I started looking for another watch and came across the Fenix by Garmin, Jenn had mentioned this watch a while back and it pretty much is their top of the light running watch right now. So thinking long and hard I mentioned to Jenn about getting one each, we both did some more reading and decided to go for it, even adding in the HRM-Run strap for better accuracy. You can read a full review of the watch here, but over the next few weeks I will give my take as a newish runner, but someone who loves technology.

So still with the Surge we, as a family, ran a fun 5k this morning, it was organized by a local community group but open to all residents and was called the Hot Dog run, even Owen took part. It was a run from a local sports centre down through the local trail part way and back, it was actually a little less than 5k according to Jenn and I’s watches, but it was more of a fun run than a competitive race. There was even hot dogs and frozen yogurt afterwards, heck I even won a chair as a prize, be great for summer vacation for sitting on the beach watching Owen in the sea and sand.

So there we have it, the catch-up post I will try and post a little more now about my running the technology and stats that go with it.